Helm Crag

Lynne & I decided at very short notice to take a trip to Grasmere, our favourite spot in the Lake District. We had been waiting for a while for my ankle/Achilles situation to improve and seized the chance once it came along.

Grasmere is by no means the biggest of the Lakes nor biggest of the villages/towns and it's charm is evident. We've visited 8 times, we think, trying to remember over a cold glass of Inch's cider at the 1769 hotel/bar/restaurant. Located ideally for access to the village, the walks, St. Oswald's church (including the grave of the famous poet William Wordsworth and family), shops, bars, restaurants and back to the main road A591 to see Dove Cottage where Wordsworth lived back in the day.

For the first time in any of our Grasmere visits we decided to learn the names of at least some of the fells which surround the valley with distinctive tops, ragged edges easy on the eye, and especially beautiful in the spring sunshine. The photo you can see above was taken by yours truly and embracing new tech, fed into AI (nicknamed by me as Arthur Ingram). Apparently the jagged peak to the left is the recognisable and gloriously named Helm Crag, an imposing 'structure' despite being a relatively modest 405m in height. Centre-right is Steel Fell or Seat Sandal - Arthur isn't 100% sure. Further right is most likely to be Seat Sandal.

Walking, still with some difficulty, I was reminded of some advice handed out to me from more than one person regarding Parkinson's, and that is fitness. I am told and wholeheartedly agree that maintaining general fitness is one of the best ways of fighting the illness or at least giving the best chance of holding it off. I was also reminded when tackling the 12,500 step walk around the lake on Tuesday that I have a long way to go to regain the fitness levels I held prior to the death of my father and the explosion of symptoms rearing their ugly head around the same time.

Accordingly, I re-affirm my commitment to working on my fitness and regaining former levels. This week's holiday indulgences have also not helped my weight battle. More of that soon, I haven't forgotten... no place to run!